Why did my lavender chick die? Please Help!

[buildingmyark]

I opened the coop this morning and found one of my lav. orp. chicks dead on the floor. All of the others were perfectly fine. It got down into the low 20s last night, but there is a heat lamp in there. I went out to check on them late last night and all of them were acting normal. Their run does have fallen acorns and possibly pecans. Could that have caused it to die? I am so puzzled as to what could have happened. They are 2 months old. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[buildingmyark]

Anyone? Please help if you can...

 

[Illia]

How old are the chicks?

Did it possibly get squished while they were huddling for warmth?

 

[silkiechicken]

2 months... with a heat lamp they should have been more than fine. At 8 weeks all my birds have lost their heat lamp. However, the coldest nights usually get are in the low 30's upper 20's at that time, so you were a tad colder.

Without obvious external signs...it happens.

 

[buildingmyark]

Thank you. I'm just trying to figure out anything that I can do to prevent it from happening to any of the others. That's really hard if you can't figure out what caused the death. Ugh! I'm so devistated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are you sure at 8 weeks they shouldn't have heat?

 

[buildingmyark]

I had a heat lamp in their coop with them. It was always pretty comfortable when I went in there at night. My husband did a "autopsy" on her when he got home from work to see if we could find any clues as to cause of death. He did find pieces of acrorn shell in her gizzard. Could that have poisoned her. I know that acorns contain tannin, which can be deadly for animals in its raw form. Do I need to move my coop and run to an area free from acorns?

 

[Miss Lydia]

That could be it, we have alot of tress around us Oaks that drop alot of acorns, my dumb dachshund started eating them when we would go out for walks, she got very sick from it. Now I watch her like a pardon the pun" Hawk" to make sure she doesn't pick one up.

 

[DelawareSilkie]

It does sound like the acorn is the culprit here. Orpingtons are cold temperate birds, and with a heat lamp they shouldn't have died from the cold. You may have to relocate your run.

 

[Zoey]

If the bird was standing fluffed up, and more or less still, and bloody droppings, i would suspect cocci..

I would take a fresh sample of the remaining chick's poops to the vet , and have them test for cocci,, (you can put them all in one zip loc baggy, and they can test for several things) 1 test one fee, they can do all of them at once .. .. If cocci, it is a deadly disease ...